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*****

This
is a story about logistics.

No,
wait, it's more exciting than it sounds, because it's actually a
story about war and logistics, about rising to a challenge, about
performing under pressure. When we think about war, we focus on the
battles, but not so much about what happens before and after. In a
sense, we get it backwards, because logistics play a huge role in
battle: moving troops and material to and fro is the fuel for the
engine of the fight.

The
Battle of Gettysburg was one of the biggest military engagements of
the American Civil War, and one of it's biggest logistical feats. Two
massive armies, invaders and pursuers, moved far beyond their normal
supply lines into Southern Pennsylvania before meeting in the small
town at dawn on July 1, 1863. Two days later, a defeated and
demoralized Army of Northern Virginia faced a desperate race back to
the safety of their own territory. Had they not been able to cross
the Potomac River into Virginia, had they failed to organize and move
at top speed, they might well have been destroyed by Union forces,
and American history might have looked quite different.

This
is not the story of the entire battle, or even the entire retreat.
Instead, it is the story of a vulnerable group of injured and wounded
men in a race against time and the elements, and the
largely-overlooked Confederate officer who led them. It is , I
believe, one of the great, forgotten dramas of the Civil War